


let it go | let it fall | let it fly |

by MiraclesInApril



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Camping, M/M, Multi, chanbaek are 18, hence the underage tag, jongin is 17, poly chankaibaek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:39:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraclesInApril/pseuds/MiraclesInApril
Summary: It feels like the beginning of the lasts, the encroachment of a full stop. Last rides, last trips, last destinations to be arrived at together. If dawn never truly came and they remained interminably trapped in the loop, Jongin would not mind.





	let it go | let it fall | let it fly |

**Author's Note:**

> To my dearest and loveliest Nina, happy birthday. You deserve a much better and longer story but I hope this little piece of poly (or my attempt at it) soothes your poly starved life xD I couldn't finish it on time so the rest will come soon~ 
> 
> Thank you for our friendship. I love you. Enjoy ♡♡♡

1989 Volkswagen Cabriolet Base. Red body, black hood, scuffed paintwork and more of a road hazard than a vehicle. But a vessel of memories and many firsts. Jongin’s first make out. First smoke. First serious sexual encounter. First attempt at driving. The car that coughed him all the way to the hospital the day he got a call in school when his mother got her first stroke, the anxious scratches from his nails to date embedded on the right side of the backseat.

The time they drove all the way to Kelstone beach with the hood down and it felt exactly like a scene from the movies but they got stuck in traffic and the weather had decided it was of a foul mood and it started lashing. It stayed lashing and they had stayed in the car, parked at the mouth of the beach, watching the angry pewter sea beat the shore. Listening to the steady drone of pitter patters on the roof, one of those vapid jazzy tunes that Chanyeol loves on the radio and Baekhyun telling them about his Boy Crush of the Month in a zealous breath.

They started off as two, an inseparable duo since kindergarten. Jongin and Chanyeol, Chanyeol and Jongin. Two peas in a pod, but not quite. Chanyeol was chirpy and exuberant, Jongin reserved and timid, at least with other people. Joint at the hips but so many more people wanted to play with Chanyeol. He got more offers to share Crayola and Choc Dips, playdates and seatmates. Sometimes they forgot to ask Jongin even when he was standing right there. Sometimes they came to drag Chanyeol along without asking. But Chanyeol never went anywhere without Jongin. If something was shared with him, he acted as though it was offered to Jongin too. If he got invited to places, a plus one was given and that plus one was Jongin. Until the memo was ingrained, Park Chanyeol was a twin pack. If you wanted him, by default, you’d get Jongin too.

Reserved and shy were nowhere to be found in the presence of Chanyeol, though. Chanyeol heard tones of Jongin’s laugh that fell on the ears of very few outside of his family and saw degrees of his smile that was foreign to most people. There was a comfort that Chanyeol made him feel, even at that tender age. A freeness, a safety net to breathe and trust that he would be safe from bad opinions and any kind of judgement. When you have a father who gives professional critics a run for their money, that kinda thing goes a mile and a half.

Then came along Baekhyun, a little while after they turned ten and eleven respectively. He rivaled Chanyeol’s exuberance. He and Chanyeol competed in conviviality. His popularity was instant and immense. And Jongin hated him on sight.

But they became the Three Musketeers instead of The Duo anyway.

“You’re up. Good morning.”

Yawning, Jongin takes his earbuds out and attempts to stretch in the compact space. He has been awake to see two hours come and go, to witness the unreachable horizon start to lighten. It was only that something in him was compelled to watch Chanyeol through the side mirror that’s angled perfectly for him to do so.

It feels like the beginning of the lasts, the encroachment of a full stop. Last rides, last trips, last destinations to be arrived at together. The more he tries to hold this image in his head and the more he tries to pen this content to a permanent place inside, the harder it evades him and it’s beginning to get frustrating. It takes him back to when his eldest sister left home for the big city and after several days he couldn’t conjure her face in his mind anymore. That terrified him until Baekhyun laughed and told him ‘it happens, sweetcheeks’. It feels like the same will happen now and sure, he has pictures and videos but it feels like a big treachery to their friendship for him to have to rely on other mediums to recall his best friends’ faces.

“G’morning,” he rolls a window down, the crisp desert coolness refreshing.

They seem to be stuck in a time loop. Every twenty minutes or so they return to the same spot in the desert. The landscape never changes. The dark mountainous ridges in the distance accompanying their journey on either side have the same rugged outline no matter how long or further away they drive. The sky above them remains deep navy, shimmering liberal argent. The horizon, lavendar and puce gripped, never gets closer even as it lightens at a sluggish pace.

Yet if dawn never truly came and they remained interminably trapped in the loop, Jongin would not mind.

The soft xylophone tune playing from the radio is snatched by the wind as they drive on, notes lost to the desert night. Chanyeol, who had been quietly singing along to every song when he thought he was the only one awake, quiets down and resorts to nodding in time with the beats.

One of Baekhyun’s legs pokes into Jongin’s waist, the other makes a home on his thighs. The feat doesn’t go over Jongin’s head; there are only two seats in the back. He doesn’t want to jostle or remove him though. It’s a comforting weight. He’ll admit that if not the fact that he will miss Baekhyun using his body as stands and pillows and mattresses and tables and chewy toys amongst other things. Jongin hated that at first. The way Baekhyun had no sense of personal space and was always touching him or Chanyeol is some way or another.

Baekhyun starts to stir, the legs he unceremoniously placed on Jongin’s person start to shift.

“Three,” Chanyeol says, looking at Jongin through the rear view.

“Two,” Jongin counts down with him.

“One.”

“Aaahhuuughhhhhh”

Chanyeol snorts and Jongin’s shoulders shake in brief silent laughter.

“Whaaat? Whaaaat?” Baekhyun’s limbs flail and he startles awake. His hair, after tossing and turning against the window, is in a state of post-electrocution. He wars with the passenger seat for a moment, falling sideways against it. “Who whooo whaaaat?!” he exclaims before righting himself, swinging his feet off Jongin and setting them in his own foot space. A few puppy-like whines fill the car. Baekhyun’s head lolls to the window. Then he’s asleep again.

“Amazing.” Chanyeol shakes his head.

Baekhyun’s slumber theatrics never fail to amuse them. Unable to help the grin on his face, Jongin unbuckles his seatbelt and reaches over Baekhyun to fasten his belt for him now that he’s occupying the seat like it’s meant to be. They must also be close to civilization and actual traffic, despite the desert road seeming endless.

“How long till we get there?” Jongin asks, reaching for the belt.

“Two more hours. Two and a half if we sto—”

“Boo!”

Jongin jumps back, head banging on the low roof and the car hiccups as Chanyeol jerks on the pedal.

“Asshole!” Jongin slaps Baekhyun’s side and falls back into his own corner, rubbing his injured head.

The criminal bursts into laughter, long hysterical peals that would be infectious if the spot on Jongin’s head wasn’t aching.

“Haha very funny.” Chanyeol deadpans.

“It is! I can’t wait to meet new people who’ll actually appreciate my sense of humour,”

“Maybe you should ask yourself why we want to smack you like ninety percent of the times.” Chanyeol retorts.

Jongin doesn’t hear Baekhyun’s reply. He is too occupied with the flip in his stomach, a heavy block of cinder that sinks to the depth of his being. For all the good trying to _not_ think about it is doing him, it seems to be doing the contrary. He can’t help but be reminded at everything.

 _I can’t wait to meet new people_ _._ A gong, a death knell of a reminder. _We’re leaving soon._

It’s funny how life works. One moment you have a vehement aversion to the new kid who steals all the attention of the one person outside of your family that means anything to you. And then a few years down the line you’re getting choked up at the thought of losing them both, however much they both reassure you that your separation will be brief.

“—so maybe Jongin should do it.” Jongin hears as he is busying himself with rolling up the window.

“How about it, J Bear?”

“What?” Jongin blinks in Baekhyun’s face that is now a hair’s breadth from his own.

“Chanyeol said,” Baekhyun shifts closer, encircling Jongin’s shoulders, “I deserve a smack. Wanna give me one?” he leers closer, batting his lashes and pursing his lips.

With a sigh Jongin flicks him away by his forehead.

“Come on, I told you the rules for this trip!”

“Rules? Please enlighten me.” Jongin finishes closing the window and places a bud back in his ear.

“One, no ignoring Baekhyun or trying to push him away. Two, no earphones, headphones or any exclusive listening devices because they pertain to rule number one. Three Baekhyun must be given at least one kiss every hour so right about now you owe me three kisses Jongin and Chanyeol five. Four, Baekhyun must—”

“So Baekhyun's the only participant of this trip?” Chanyeol says curtly, fingers tapping on the wheel.

“The only important one.”

Jongin gives Baekhyun the smack he has been seeking and Chanyeol’s laugh pleases him.

“We’ll try to keep that in mind, Your Highness.”

“Good! But no really,” Baekhyun settles back in his seat, keeps his arm around Jongin and Jongin gives in, rests his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “No sighing, no thinking sad thoughts, no L word discussions and I really must have my kisses.”

Jongin presses his fingers to his lips and then presses it to Baekhyun’s open mouth.

“What the fuc—”

Jongin does it again. And then one more time.

“There. No kiss debts.”

“See? He’s a genius.” Chanyeol looks back to wink at Jongin.

“Genius in mischief. We need to hire someone to watch him, this wild one. He’ll burn down the town all by himself.” Baekhyun says dramatically, clutching his chest.

“That’ll be the picture on the Christmas postcard. Just a picture of a row of buildings he set on fire.” Chanyeol joins.

“And then you see him smiling at like the very corner of it with a pure demented look.”

“‘Merry Christmas guys, things have gotten a little heated around here since you left.’”

They laugh then, more a cacophony of cackles and normally laughing at his own expense would come like second nature because the knowledge that his best friends never have malicious intent is intrinsic but for a horrifying moment, his throat burns and his vision gets tinged with blur. He blinks it away rapidly but Chanyeol and Baekhyun take note of the silence on his part and the mirth dies abruptly.

“What’s on your playlist?” Baekhyun clears his throat, changing the topic.

“I sent you a new one but have you even opened it?” Chanyeol chides.

“Can you blame him? Who wants to listen to granny music? I mean, are half of the people you listen to even alive?”

“So? Does that mean we can’t appreciate their music because they’re dead? Did their music die with them? Why do people still appreciate Van Gogh and Monet? How is it different when it comes to music? Why would—”

“Jesus fuck. You’d think I spat on his mother’s grave.” Baekhyun snorts. Jongin can see the muscle tic in Chanyeol’s jaw.

He smiles and snuggles into Baekhyun. They have had this argument about a million times. Maybe one day Chanyeol will get that Baekhyun is only teasing. Maybe he will get that Baekhyun only does it to rile him up because ‘that’s hot J Bear. Isn’t he really hot when he gets like this?’. He doesn’t miss Baekhyun’s squeeze on his shoulder now, a silent form of shared laughter.

 

* * *

 

 

They arrive at Aster Creek mid morning. Jongin sits shotgun and Baekhyun forces the coughing Cabriolet over the discreet sodden trail. A scrap of feeling comes alive in the memories. The woods filters sunlight and lets the rays down in streaks of gold and haloes the rest in viridescent hues.

“Wanna go for a swim?”

“While he sleeps?” Jongin asks without facing him. He can’t bring himself to tear his gaze away. The white and purple asters that the creek is known for are in full bloom, the vegetation woven with contrasting light and dark and it’s breathtaking.  

“Yeah. He hasn’t gotten a wink since we left. We should set up and let him sleep.”

“He might get pissy when he wakes up.”

Chanyeol sometimes grouses about being left out, though nine times out of ten he’s joking. His love for Aster Creek rivals Jongin’s. The past two times they visited, with Chanyeol’s older brother and his friends, Chanyeol had practically been made of popcorn seeds and the car a microwave. He was the first to swing into the waterfall and first to clamber up the great white oaks, despite his three left feet which meant he kept having to start again or hold on to the hand thrust out last minute to save him from splitting his head like a ripe peach.

He took every dare thrown at him by Chanwoo’s friends; dive off the cave behind the waterfall where the water might pummel you to death if you didn’t leap strong enough, take an old jet ski to the far bank and try and make it back when it was already low on fuel and risk having to make the hours long trek around to get back, walk a hundred paces into the woods at night after the round of horror stories around the fire, just to prove audacious or something of the likes. Jongin and Baekhyun hadn’t been keen on it and neither would’ve Chanwoo been had he paid attention to anything besides his girlfriend the whole time.

Chanyeol had been inaugurated into the circle of ‘cooler older boys’ while Jongin and Baekhyun who had hung back had simply remained to be Chanwoo’s kid brother’s friends. The kid brother was becoming one of them. And it was like because Jongin was finally starting to warm up to Baekhyun, Chanyeol decided Jongin would be fine without him.

Ironically that was the summer Jongin and Baekhyun had grown close. It was also the summer Baekhyun stole his first kiss.

While the others raced to the treetops, Jongin and Baekhyun had taken their time on an older oak that had a dead branch that swept the mossy earth. It gave them better leverage to get up. At the top they snickered at Chanyeol’s frenzied scampering that they could witness from their perch, how he went from tree to tree and laughing older boy to laughing older boy. It was kinda amusing but ridiculous too and Jongin and Baekhyun were in no shortage of snickers. And when one of them laughed the other saw reason to laugh harder until their manic cackling carried with the wind, down as far as the thundering waterfall and they had to hold each other steady so as not to tumble to broken necks.

The jet skis, when they were refueled, were a blast and while Chanyeol had wanted to ride alone, Jongin had clung to Baekhyun’s waist as Baekhyun had in turn clung to Hyungi’s waist and their laughter bounced on the water and merged in the air.

They shared a sleeping bag because they were scarce and at dinner time when it got dark and they all gathered around the fire for a round of dark tales, Baekhyun shared a log with Jongin. He wove his fingers into Jongin’s when he tried to muffle his frightened mewls. Jongin had gone stiff at first, the fire and fright fading away as his heart thundered for an entirely separate reason but then he relaxed his white-knuckle grip on Baekhyun and for the remainder of the night his mind wondered at the feel of holding hands with someone who wasn’t Chanyeol or family. That night he was clear of fitful sleep because he barely heard what came next in the gruesome story.

One evening, when almost two weeks had passed and it would be another two before they were set to start home, he and Baekhyun were sitting on the pier, in their trunks, with their calves soaking in the water. The rest had gone back to the campsite to dry off and start prepping for dinner but Baekhyun and Jongin didn’t have much of a role in that frenzy so they stayed behind to enjoy the lukewarm water. Even at thirteen when appreciating nature was beneath them and saying heartfelt things was paunchingly embarrassing, they could do nothing to stop the awe at the lilac and fuchsia sunset. The lake was turning bubblegum pink in reflection and darkness began to make ghouls of the oak trunks and despite the laughter and banter in the distance, the world was still and silent between them. It was one of the first times Jongin realized he wouldn’t mind living in a moment forever.

He stole a glance at Baekhyun. He was leaning back and occupied with the sky but he gave Jongin a lazy smile when he caught him looking. That lazy smile. It was always there, lurking on the corner of his lips, ready to be dispensed at the shortest notice. Before, Jongin noticed, it was all for Chanyeol. But lately Jongin was on the receiving end of it too, so easy and quick. Where he had felt excluded before, that special smile was a gateway and he was starting to understand why Chanyeol let Baekhyun into their world so seamlessly.

Perhaps he had been lost in thought a moment or two too long. The next time he blinked Baekhyun’s lips were on his. His eyes were closed, lashes brushing Jongin’s cheek and nose bridge. He opened his eyes when Jongin didn’t kiss back but he didn’t move his lips away.

It was another five seconds before Baekhyun moved and broke the kiss with a resounding smack and a grin.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” he leaned back on his palms but Jongin noticed something different. His arms weren’t as steady holding him and the corners of his mouth were struggling to stay up.

“You stole my first kiss.” Jongin said with bare emotion, still locked in a daze.

“You were staring.”

“So that means you can just kiss me?”

It didn’t take any keen perceptiveness to see Baekhyun’s smile slipping now and a furrow building between his brows.  

“I’m sorry. Do you want it back?”

“Want what back?”

“Your kiss.”

Jongin stared at him again. He was earnest. It confused the hell out of Jongin. It also made him snort and then it lead to laughter. Big haha’s that made him collapse into the boy who just stole his first kiss.

“You’re so weird.” Jongin said when he could breathe, righting himself.

“Yeah. You’re kinda cute you know.” Baekhyun wasn’t looking at him. He was making ripples in the water with his feet.

“Is that why you kissed me?”

Baekhyun nodded. His lips didn’t tug sadly anymore and Jongin felt weird about the relief he felt at that.

“Do you hate me?”

“I did.” Jongin said truthfully. Baekhyun’s wince made him wince. “But I guess you’re okay.” the memory of Baekhyun slipping his hand into his and letting him use his back as a stool to get down from their oak flashed in his mind.

Yeah. He was okay.

“Jongin? Baekhyun?” a shout came from the shore-end of the pier. They looked back to see Chanyeol jogging up to them. His fists were clenched and his cheeks flushed. There was a mean glassy glint to eyes too.

“What’s up?” Baekhyun craned his neck up to look at him but it was unnecessary because Chanyeol shouldered a seat between them.

“You guys making plans without me too?” he said and Jongin could see the irate blaze in him then. He sat a little closer to Chanyeol, making sure their shoulders touched. Chanyeol didn’t get mad often but he always seemed to calm down quicker when Jongin touched him or hugged his arm.

“Who’s making plans without you?” Baekhyun perked up.

That same minute Jongin said, “Baekhyun kissed me.”

He wasn’t used to hiding things from Chanyeol. Even if he was a little annoyed that Chanyeol thought he was too grown for them now. Even if he felt like he was finally in on whatever Baekhyun Bubble Chanyeol had been caught in from the day they met.

Chanyeol was Chanyeol. And he was here now. Jongin counted on him coming back. There had never been a doubt in his mind.

He looked from Jongin to Baekhyun at the news. The anger was defusing out of him swiftly. It was like watching a punctured tire deflate.

“Chanwoo said I can’t go with them on the quads tomorrow.” he answered Baekhyun’s question first. “Can I kiss you too?”

Jongin looked at him blankly.

“Jongin?”

“You want to...kiss me…?”

“Yes, isn’t that what Baekhyun did?”

“Yes but—”

“I’m not allowed? You guys are leaving me out too?” instead of the ire there was hurt. And Jongin...he’d always thought of kissing Chanyeol some day.

So he did. A quick chaste but firm press of lips. Chanyeol’s eyes didn’t close, it was much too brief for that and the shock had paralyzed him. And then with a giggle, Baekhyun had turned Chanyeol’s face and pressed just as brief a kiss to Chanyeol’s lips.

“There,” Baekhyun said with a satisfied giggle. “It’s all even now.”

Chanyeol stayed stupefied for a little while longer and Baekhyun’s grin at Jongin was conspiratorial and made him all warm on the inside.

They all had their first kiss that night and they wouldn’t try anything else together for another two years but something unbreakable had forged and the queasiness of exclusion or missing out on an inner secret faded into laughable nothing as the divide had only existed in Jongin’s head.

Chanyeol had stuck close to them again and he got whinny when they made a joke that he didn’t understand that resulted from their two weeks of getting closer or when they referred to places they hadn’t taken him yet and they found it amusing more than anything else. They acquainted him with all their secret and special places but it had become Jongin and Baekhyun’s inside joke and Chanyeol never failed to grumble about it.

 

Baekhyun’s lips currently quirk in amusement. “He’ll get pissy if we wake him now.”

No disagreement there. They would have a cranky Chanyeol on their hands regardless. Jongin smiled.

Perhaps Aster Creek once belonged to owner of the dilapidated cabin deeper into the land but for a few generations now it was being used as an unofficial campsite by the local kids.  Jongin and his friends are by no means local but Chanwoo’s uni’ friends who grow up around these parts had invited him once summer break rolled around. Chanyeol couldn’t say yes fast enough when his brother extended the invitation to them. It was getting increasingly difficult to keep themselves entertained in their small town where nothing changed and the wilderness surrounding them wasn’t much to look at either.

Granted they’ve only summered here twice if you count their current trip out, when they were thirteen and then fifteen but they’re the best summers in Jongin’s memory. It’s late August now and even the stragglers are nowhere to be seen. In fairness Chanyeol and Baekhyun should be heading out too. The relief and queasiness at this is simultaneous.

The water is warmer than it normally is in July and Jongin throws himself in once he fetches firewood and helps Baekhyun set up their large tent. He floats mindlessly, letting his mind go like the clouds above.

It has been a weird summer. Normally he’d be so excited once May came about. Three months of doing fuck all with his best friends? It was the dream. But all he felt was dread coiling tighter and tighter as his friends suffered through finals preps, barely sleeping or eating, oversleeping to recharge and having zero time for anything besides academia. Jongin understood, of course he did. But he realized that was it. That was the true beginning of the end for them. He would only lose them more and more as summer drew closer.

The part that makes him most bitter is that he is losing them to nothing other than Life. It hit him hard and fast. He’s still reeling from the blow of the realization.

He dives into the water and leaps up for a big breath before he sets off in hard strokes. Aimless thoughts, dangerous wanderings. He isn’t trying to relax anymore. He’s trying to wear himself out.

If he’s too tired to think, he’ll be too tired for sadness.

He hears splashing that doesn’t come from him. A scan of the water shows Baekhyun’s head beside the pier, arms flailing.

“Glad you got my mating call.” Baekhyun says once Jongin is in range.

“Your what?” Jongin laughs, allowing Baekhyun to grab him and dunk him under. “More like siren song!” Jongin pushes him away when he breaks the surface.

“Come get your death kiss then,” Baekhyun pushes towards him.

With a grin, Jongin takes off. “If you can catch me.”

There are a lot of things Baekhyun is better at than Jongin. And sometimes the things Baekhyun and Chanyeol do so brilliantly that he cannot make Jongin feel slightly inadequate. Sometimes more than slightly. But swimming is not one of them. For someone who shivered and clawed like a cat at the thought of any body of water besides a bathtub up to the age of ten, Jongin sure caught on to the art of swimming exceptionally fast.

“Hey Tadpole!” Baekhyun wails from somewhere behind. “Showoff!” he shouts when Jongin turns around and floats backwards, watching Baekhyun struggle to catch up to him.

Jongin returns to lazing in the water when he starts to feel bad for Baekhyun, knowing he could toy with him for the rest of the day if he wished. Besides, he’s here to dump unwanted thoughts not avoid his friend.

“Shit maybe you should pursue something in professional swimming.” Baekhyun wheezes, throwing his arms around Jongin.

“Maybe you should get fit.” that turns out to be the wrong thing to say with Baekhyun having access to his naked skin. The nails raking down his back are not kind.

“Excuse me,” Baekhyun says, Jongin can hear the scowl, “not everyone can be built like a demigod. Don’t be a rude piece of shit.”

“Demigod?” Jongin giggles, not minding the harsh scratching so much.

“Yes,” Baekhyun’s hands wander lower until they’re cupping Jongin’s ass in the water. “Spectacular.” his suggestive squeeze makes Jongin feel like the sun is directly bearing down on them.

“Perv,”

“For you.” Baekhyun says with that lazy smile and his head drops to Jongin’s shoulder.

Nothing to say to that—though plenty feeling in his chest—Jongin hugs Baekhyun and wonders if the same memory is going through their minds. The kisses Baekhyun presses into his shoulder is affirmative. Jongin wants them on his lips instead.

Before he can demand so, there’s a splash in the water.

“Oi!” Chanyeol yells as he swims towards them, “Starting all the fun without me again?”  

“Oh here comes the third wheel.” Baekhyun says loud enough for Chanyeol to hear once he’s in range and Jongin chuckles.

“Third wheel, am I?” Chanyeol says, pressing himself up behind Jongin and folding his arms around him, one around his shoulders, one on his hips. His legs wrap around Jongin’s  calves too and Chanyeol is literally cocooning him in the water.

“Yes. You interrupted something important.”

“Too bad. It’s my turn now.” Chanyeol shoves himself and his Jongin pupa away from Baekhyun.

“Hey I wasn’t finished! Your turn for what exactly?” Baekhyun follows demandingly and Jongin would end the squabble by slipping out of Chanyeol’s grasp and swimming away but he quite likes Chanyeol and Baekhyun fighting over who would get to be affectionate to Jongin. Of course soon enough they’ll figure out he wants to be cocooned by both of them but he’s too content right now with the feeling of Chanyeol _everywhere,_ turning the warm lake into more of a lava pool.

“Hey you,” Chanyeol murmurs next to his ear as he steers them away from Baekhyun. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Jongin laces his fingers between Chanyeol’s on his hip, “fine.”

“Stinkin’ liar.”

Jongin laughs, turns his cheek to find Chanyeol looking at him.

“I know I’m handsome but you’re really flattering. Would you like a video instead? Just, me, sitting still for hours. Feast your pretty eyes. For you only.”

So maybe Chanyeol had not been as oblivious as Jongin thought him to be. Suddenly it’s the wrong kind of hot and he squirms in embarrassment but there’s no getting away, Chanyeol is strong as Jongin is deft.

“Stop it. We’re gonna talk later, okay?”

“Baek said—”

“I know what Baek said. But I know you too. Talk later, kay?”

Jongin is nodding and letting Chanyeol’s mouth linger on his neck when Baekhyun pounces out of the water nearby. They hadn’t even noticed him disappear, though it had turned too quiet all of a sudden.

“That’s enough, give me back my J Bear.” Baekhyun looks annoyed as he pries away Chanyeol’s hold. Chanyeol doesn’t give but Jongin holds his arms out for him and Baekhyun accepts the embrace, extending back to Chanyeol.

They could play argue or Baekhyun could run his dainty fingers up Jongin’s sides and make him burst into giggles but silence seems most appropriate for today. Silence and letting invaluable company soak.

Chanyeol’s head rests atop his, Baekhyun’s in the crook of his neck. Their limbs are an entangled mess and the warmth comes from every side, including the powerful midday rays. They should get into the shade soon but right now. Right now Jongin couldn’t be granted his most profound dream to move.

**Author's Note:**

> ~as i said, part 2 is coming asap, i just wanted to post something for nina's birthday (which is up quite soon orz).  
> ~also the rating might change soon as there will be some sexual stuff but i haven't decided how explicit it'll be so please take heed of that (i'll put a reminder too if it does change!)  
> ~there's a short playlist for this but the title comes from silence by before you exit.  
> thanks for reading! ♡


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